


Bump in the Road

by alessandralee



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Best Friends, Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 08:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5040460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alessandralee/pseuds/alessandralee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The gang is on their way home from a college tour roadtrip, when they run into a little trouble in the form of a blown tire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bump in the Road

“Is everyone okay?” Lucas asks after he puts the car into park and turns it off.

In the passenger’s seat, Farkle nods and reaches down to pick the GPS up off the floor. It still reads 17 miles until their next turn.

“I’m good,” Maya pipes up from the back seat.

“Maya’s elbows are surprisingly sharp, but I think I’ll live,” Zay adds, rubbing gingerly at his ribcage.

 

Was that the tire?” Riley asks, sounding concerned, but not hurt.

“I think so,” Lucas replies.

They all pile out of the car, a little shaken but otherwise find, aside from a few bumps and bruises. Sure enough, the front passenger’s side tire is all torn up.

“I’ll call roadside assistance,” Farkle says, pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialing. “Or not.”

One by one, each of them checks their phone. No service. According to Farkle’s GPS, which does manage to hold a clear signal, they’re in Pennsylvania, about thirty minutes from the New Jersey border.

Not that knowing that does them any good.

“Any change you know how to put on a spare tire?” Zay asks Farkle.

He is, after all the genius.

Farkle actually laughs, “I’m from New York City. I don’t even have my license yet. What about you two?” He gestures between Zay and Lucas. “Ever changed a tractor tire? This can’t be much different.”

Zay snorts and Lucas rolls his eyes. They’re no help either.

“Why do you even own a car if you can’t drive?” Maya asks.

Farkle shrugs, “It’s a status symbol.” He pauses, then adds, “Also my parents’ bought it for me when they assumed I would pass my drivers’ test on the first try.”

“That was six months ago,” Maya points out.

“I’ve been busy.”

While they argue over Farkle’s refusal to retake his road test, Riley pulls their bags out of the trunk until she can grab a flashlight, tire iron, jack, and the spare tire.

“Move over,” she gently nudges Lucas’s leg out of the way so she can set her tools up near the tire.

“You know how to change a tire?” Zay asks, surprised.

“What, like it’s hard?” Maya replies for her.

“You can’t do it either,” Riley reminds her.

“Only because I was too busy providing the excellent commentary that made your dad’s lesson way more fun,” Maya says.

That’s not a lie, but Riley wishes Maya had also managed to pay better attention. It’s a little nerve-wracking to be the only one who has the slightest clue what she’s doing. She doesn’t want to do any more damage to what she knows is probably an expensive car.

But as long as she goes slowly and carefully, and consults the notes her father made her take on her phone, she should be able get it done before the sun goes down completely.

“You don’t even have a license,” Zay says, sounding confused. “And your parents’ don’t own a car.”

“The bakery got a delivery van last year,” Riley tells him.

“It’s purple,” Farkle adds.

“Periwinkle,” Maya corrects him.

“Well unless she’s driving it, I don’t see why she’d need to know how to change a tire,” Zay says, addressing his comments to Maya so that Riley can focus on the task at hand.

“Something about boys and egos and not taking proper safety precautions,” Maya paraphrases Mr. Matthews’s speech from a few weeks ago. “I thought he was going to veer off into the birds and the bees, but he restrained himself.”

“He let my mom do that speech,” Riley says absently.

“I remember,” Maya blushes a little over it.

The only trouble she’d anticipated when it came to their great junior year college road trip was running out snacks before they made it to Ithaca.

So she’d made sure to pack plenty. And they’d lasted not only through Purchase, Binghamton, and Cornell, but all the way to Buffalo, and almost back to the city. They were down to their last two granola bars.

She’d been patting herself on the back, up until this little incident.

They were lucky that Riley’s a good listener.

Not that she intended to tell Mr. Matthews that when they got home.

Lucas watches with interest as Riley continues to work on the car. He almost looks a little guilty, as if he blames himself for the blowout. And that’s ridiculous. Never has someone been as committed to following the speed limit as Lucas Friar.

Zay walks up and down the side of the road, still trying to get a signal on his phone. When that doesn’t work, he decides to play Tetris on it instead.

Maya watches the road warily. When one passing car starts to slow down, her and Riley exchange worried glances before she glares fiercely at the driver.

Lucas waves him on politely, but Maya doesn’t relax until the car is out of sight.

Meanwhile, Farkle is playing with the GPS, trying to locate the nearest mechanic or hotel.

By the time Riley finishes and Lucas packs everything back up, Farkle has managed to find a chain hotel just before they cross into New Jersey.

The drive there is agonizingly slow; Lucas is painfully careful about driving safely. 

Zay is the first to get cell service again, and Farkle practically rips the phone out of his hands to call his parents.

The Minkuses offer to send up another car to get everyone, but Farkle tells them it won’t be necessary. They do, however, arrange for a mechanic to tow the car from the hotel.

In the lobby, they each call their parents. Everyone is glad their children are safe, but no one is particularly worried about them getting home fast, since it’s only Thursday and Spring Break isn’t really over until Monday morning.

Even Riley manages to get off the phone with only one warning from Mr. Matthews about getting her and Maya a room separate from the boys. She’d gotten at least a dozen before they left for this trip.


End file.
